Senior Hayley Gorman spent her summer at three different educational programs; Arizona Girls State, the Summer Journalism Institute at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and Economics For Leaders.
“It was pretty amazing, actually. I loved meeting new people. I met people all across Arizona and the United States,” Gorman said.
Arizona Girls State is a program in which 300 girls from across Arizona come to the University of Arizona to learn about government and leadership by creating their own city, county, and state governments.
Two girls from each school are selected to participate in the program. Gorman and fellow senior Theresa Lobato were selected to represent McClintock.
“I was elected mayor of my city. Arizona Girls State was a great experience because I was able to apply what I learned from AP Government and I got to listen to people who were part of the different levels of the government,” Gorman said.
Her next program, the High School Summer Journalism Institute at the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, was a two-week program in which 26 students learned about digital media and broadcast journalism.
“I was in digital media, so I wrote for our online website, where I was the Webmaster. I learned a lot about writing online, taking pictures and blogging.” Gorman said.
After that, she attended Economics For Leaders at the University of Chicago. In the one-week program, 34 students learned about the importance of leadership and an economic way of thinking.
“Our professor was from Clemson University and taught us how we incorporate economics into our daily lives. He also taught us about how economics affects us and everyone in the world,” Gorman said. “Also, I learned about leadership at this program. We did a lot of activities that involved team building, but we also learned a lot about ourselves. It’s nice knowing that I made 33 new friends.”